[ecrea] IAMCR conference - 7 to 11 July, 2019 at the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain

https://iamcr.org/madrid2019

The International Association for Media and Communication Research 
(IAMCR) invites the submission of abstracts of papers and proposals for 
panels for the 2019 Congress of the Association, which will be held from 
7 to 11 July, 2019 at the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain. The 
deadline for submission is 8 February 2019, at 23.59 UTC.

IAMCR conferences address a wide diversity of topics defined by our 32 
thematic sections and working groups (see 
https://iamcr.org/madrid2019/s-wg-cfp). We also propose a single central 
theme to be explored throughout the conference with the aim of 
generating and exploring multiple perspectives. This is accomplished 
through plenary and special sessions, and in some of the sessions of the 
sections and working groups. The central theme for 2019 focuses on 
communication, technology, and human dignity.

Communication, Technology, and Human Dignity: Disputed Rights, Contested 
Truths

The year 2018 saw the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the 
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. At its heart was the premise that 
everyone had the right to live in dignity. In the intervening years, 
with the successive growth of television, the explosion of digital 
media, and the emergence of artificial intelligence, communication 
systems have become ever more central to organizing every aspect of 
daily life, prompting renewed attention to questions around their role 
in both supporting and subverting the exercise of rights and the 
achievement of universal dignity.

The right to voice and visibility, to have one’s experiences and ideas 
fairly represented in the heartlands of public culture is now 
established as a basic human right alongside rights of access to the 
comprehensive information and analysis that supports individual 
expression and social participation on a basis of equality, dignity and 
mutual respect.

Under current conditions these fundamental communication-related rights 
are under increasing pressure and threat. Control over the organisation 
of innovations in communication and their applications has increasing 
passed from governments to corporations. Concern with the public 
interest and the common good has been increasing displaced by business 
models designed to maximise revenues. These models are bolstering 
appeals to consumption while weakening the social contract of 
citizenship, providing new and largely unregulated platforms for the 
dissemination of rumour, misinformation and ‘fake’ news, ushering in the 
era of so called ‘post truth’ and reinforcing social and political 
polarization

These developments are taking place against a backdrop of rapidly 
widening inequalities of income and wealth both within countries and 
between different areas of the world. One visible manifestation of these 
changes is the escalating volume of migrations driven by political and 
environmental as well as economic pressures. The resulting expansion in 
the numbers of refugees and displaced persons poses new challenges for 
the rights of minorities and for guarantees of personal freedom and full 
access to citizens’ rights

With Communication, Technology and Human Dignity as the principal 
themes, the 2019 Madrid Congress aims to generate a cross-disciplinary 
debate that brings differing but interacting perspectives to bear on the 
urgent issues raised by present developments. This objective will be the 
primary focus of the plenary sessions and special sessions and as in 
previous years we encourage sections and the working groups to pay 
particular attention to the core themes in organizing their programs, 
while not precluding presentations based on recent research and 
theorizing in other areas covered by their remits.

The objective should not simply be to present new evidence and 
theorizing on key issues, but to reflect on the situation today in order 
to suggest how present developments may unfold in future and to engage 
with the challenges they present for research, policy and action.

At IAMCR Madrid 2019, we aim to analyse the impact of the latest 
advances in communication technology on society, culture and human 
rights, giving special importance to the quality and authenticity of 
sources and messages in view of increased mechanization and artificial 
intelligence. The context of these problems is how the advance of 
technology affects the quality of human life, how communication 
technology affects the objectivity of facts, and how the geopolitical 
and socioeconomic contexts are affected by the most recent changes in 
the structure and modes adopted by communication processes.

Present tendencies and scenarios pose urgent questions for individual 
and social rights. How can communication continue to facilitate human 
connection ,understanding and mutual respect in the face of the 
ever-increasing technological nature of the media and geopolitical 
turbulence? How can we define and reflect on our personal and social 
identities at a time when the emerging technologies and other factors 
call into question the established notion of “belonging to a nation”?

We are faced then with clear challenges in respect of the quality of 
communication, the quality of life and human dignity.

We encourage participants to address these issues both from the 
viewpoint of the predominant communication systems and from those which 
are arising from the use of the new technologies – artificial 
intelligence, the growth of automation and robotics, Big Data and the 
Internet of Things. We also welcome analyses which re-evaluate and take 
a fresh look at human dignity in respect of geopolitics, the present-day 
socio-economic context, religion, transparency, accessibility and 
discrimination, and the re-composition of power, in the overall context 
of the implications of technology and communication in an interconnected 
world.

Topics addressing the central theme could include the following, among 
others:

- Process automation and its relevance in respect of journalism
- Big Data and its implications regarding privacy
- The massive use of control systems in political and legal decision making
- The organization of international political and economic systems at 
the service of individuals and groups in society
- The basis of human rights in a society which is becoming ever more 
technological and turbulent
- Equality and discrimination from the point of view of migration, 
membership, citizenship and the “right to belong”
- Theoretical and applied research in Communication, Human Dignity and 
Communication
- “Post-truth” from linguistic and other viewpoints
- Fake news and social network bots
- Digital journalism and today’s challenges in writing and publishing news
- Open source apps for news and journalism
- Journalism and computer programming
- International law and its effective application in different regions
- The value of texts such as Article 1 of the European Charter of 
Fundamental Rights
- Online advertising and its implications for consumers and their privacy
- D&A (Data & Analysis) and confidence in senior management
- Social impact of investments and divestments
- Machines and robots in audiovisual imagination (their depiction in 
cinema and literature)
- Artificial intelligence and games
- Under-age and young audiences and new mediations
- Ethics in automated media
- Communication to empower citizens and reinforce their rights
- Big Data to generate trust in media
- How technology threatens and enables communication processes
- How communication and technology challenge copyright and intellectual 
property
- Human dignity, health communication and solidarity
- Poverty, inequality and the throw-away society
- The challenges of iHealth (telemedicine, etc.)
- Cultural studies
- Human dignity and religion

Not all submissions have to address the central theme. See the 
individual calls for proposals of the sections and working groups for 
other themes.

Sections and Working Groups may use additional criteria and may assign 
different weights to the above criteria. Consult the specific CFP or 
contact the head of the Section and Working Group you want to submit to 
if you have questions. Abstracts must be submitted from 3 December 2018 
through 8 February 2019. We welcome both individual abstracts and panel 
presentations. We ask you to kindly submit proposals in good time at the 
abstract submission site – https://iamcr-ocs.org.
Deadlines and important dates

The deadline to submit abstracts is 8 February 2019, at 23.59 UTC.

    3 December 2018 - Abstract submission system opens at 
https://iamcr-ocs.org
    8 February 2019 - Deadline to submit abstracts
    28 March 2019 - Abstract decisions announced by sections and 
working groups
    7 April 2019 - Deadline to apply for travel grants and awards
    11 April 2019 - Deadline to confirm participation
    7 May 2019 - Draft conference programme schedule released
    14 May 2019 - Last day for Early bird registration
    7 June 2019 - Deadline for full paper submission
    17 June 2019 - Last day for changes to be made in the print version 
of the programme
    7-11 July 2019 - IAMCR Conference

Languages

Different sections and working groups have different policies regarding 
languages. Some accept abstract and programme sessions in English, 
French and Spanish while others conduct their programmes in only one or 
two languages. Consult the individual CfPs for details on the language 
policy of each section.

Guidelines for abstracts

Abstracts should be between 300 and 500 words, unless a particular 
Section or Working Group establishes their own criterion in this 
respect. All abstracts must be submitted through the IAMCR Open 
Conference System. Abstracts sent by email will not be accepted.

It is expected that each person will submit only one (1) abstract. 
However, under no circumstances should there be more than two (2) 
abstracts bearing the name of the same author, either individually or as 
part of any group of authors. Please note also that the same abstract or 
another version with minor variations in title or content must not be 
submitted to more than one Section or Working Group. Such submissions 
will be deemed to be in breach of the conference guidelines and will be 
rejected by the OCS system, by the relevant Head or by the Conference 
Programme Reviewer. Authors submitting them risk being removed entirely 
from the conference programme.

Technical guidelines, if any, are defined by the individual Sections and 
Working Groups. If you have questions, consult the Section or Working 
Group's specific CFP or contact the head of the Section and Working 
Group that interests you.

For further information, please consult the IAMCR Madrid 2019 web page 
or contact the Local Organizing Committee by email: (madrid2019 /at/ iamcr.org) 
or the heads of the section or working group you are interested in.

Evaluation Criteria

    Submitted abstracts will generally be evaluated on the basis of:
    Theoretical contribution
    Methods
    Quality of writing
    Literature review
    Relevance of the proposal to the work of the Section or Working Group
    Originality and/or significance

Sections and Working Groups may use additional criteria and may assign 
different weights to the above criteria. Consult the specific CFP or 
contact the head of the Section and Working Group you want to submit to 
if you have questions.
Venue of the Congress

The IAMCR Madrid 2019 Congress will take place at the School of 
Communication of the Complutense University of Madrid, situated on the 
Moncloa Campus at the Avenida Complutense. It is near the city centre, 
with a Metro station only 5 minutes away and less than a 30 minute walk 
from Moncloa or the Halls of Residence area. Moncloa is a communications 
hub, and a well-known shopping and touristic area of the capital.

The School of Communication teaches degree courses in Journalism, AV 
Communication and Advertising and Public Relations. Master and doctoral 
degrees are also taught in Audiovisual Heritage and Multimedia 
Journalism and Communication (from a variety of viewpoints: 
socio-cultural, political, organizational, audiovisual, social, etc.). 
Demand for degree courses was such that the original building soon 
became insufficient and in 2003, a second teaching centre was added 
adjacent to the old one; the new building houses lecture halls for 
senior students, masters’ courses, offices for professors and lecturers 
and a large auditorium.

The School of Communication will soon become the second largest centre 
of the University in terms of the number of students and the largest of 
its type in the country. The Faculty is proud to serve the enormous 
demand for communication-related degrees.

Download this call for proposals as a PDF file: 
https://iamcr.box.com/shared/static/0yrjel2olm0xjnjb0gukn573ztch8x9o.pdf

Section and Working group calls:
https://iamcr.org/madrid2019/s-wg-cfp
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